Step 5: Drill the frame

Step 6: Assemble and bend away

Thread in your bolt, attach the clamp with the clevis pin, and you're ready to go. Clamp the far end of the bender to your workbench. Clamp the tip o...

Here's a simple design for a fork blade bender. This is used to bend or rake the legs for bicycle forks. It could also be used to put gradual bends in metal tubing for other uses.

It can be made with not much more than than an Oxy-acetylene torch, hacksaw, and drill press. The materials are probably all available at your local Big Box hardware store, though you should see if you could buy the angle iron as cutoff remnants from your local steel supplier, as it will be a lot cheaper.

Step 1: Materials and tools

You'll need the following materials:

Angle iron, approximately 2' x 2', 2 pieces 12-18" long
Angle iron, 3/4" x 3/4", about 2'
Steel flat stock, 1" x 1/8" thick, about a foot should be plenty
2" clevis pin and a cotter pin or clip
3/8 bolt, 1 1/2" long should do, or Metric 8, or whatever you find in your junk box around this size.
A nut to match your bolt if you don't have the right tap size

hello, have just completed your bending jig. I've added a couple of uprights and a long lever with a roller attached, it works beautifully!. It's going to save me pounds and pounds as I can now buy straight fork blades which are considerably cheaper, it also means that I can reproduce the graceful bends used by Italian framebuilders of the 1950's. Thanks again!.